THIS IS CONTRA, DUDE (PART II: BILL AND LANCE'S SUPER ADVENTURE)
Action Packed...
80's Action Packed!
Continuing our path towards Operation Galuga we've face the return of the Aliens and their new possessed posse.
That's right, time to face the Red Falcon danger with Arcade Archives: Super Contra.
Give'em hell, boys!
Contra was already an arcade hit and an NES masterpiece, but Konami realized they could do even more with their newely invented Run N' Gun genre and that La Recherche de l'absolu (The Quest of the Absolute) would lead them to a sequel: Super Contra, known in Japan as Super Contra: Alien no Gyakushu (The Alien Strikes Back).
Continuing Contra was a challenge, since you need to implement new features in the game in order to make a sequel of an arcade smash as good and smashing as the first game. Contra had an assortment of weapons, so Super Contra needed to improve, so let's have a look at Bill and Lance's arsenal before talking about the game.
LASER GUN: Like in the previous Contra, this is a large beam that passes through enemies, but tapping the button twice won't reset the beam.
MACHINE GUN: This weapon was vastly improved compared to its previous version. It fires fast missiles of considerable power and with a fast firing rate, it is the most efficient weapon of the game. Picking another Machine Gun will increase the firing rate, making it a devastating force.
BOMB: Despite its name, it is more of a Grenade Launcher. It replaces the fireball of the previous game as the igneous type weapon. It fires a grenade that releases two explosions horizontally. Powering it up again will change the blast into 4 explosions fired in an "X" trajectory.
SPREAD GUN: The multi-directional weapon of the game. Fires a 3-Way bullet volley of moderate power which can be powered up into the characteristic 5-Way shot. Recommendable if you need to take a stand quickly.
Those guys are no longer your allies.
Super Contra retains most of the original features of Contra such as the 360° aim which provides you the same full range of attack, and depending on what weapon you're using will be deadly and even more precise to take multiple enemies. One of the exclusive features of this game is that you can do a higher jump. To do this, you have to press and hold up and then push the jump button to jump higher than usual. This is a very important technique that you'll be using since you'll be relying on high jumps to dodge enemy fire and to hop on platforms (example the Stage 4 sub-boss) giving more action to the overall game. It is worth to mention the introduction of the weapon powering up because you'll be needing more firepower than bullet speed, so in favor of extra power Super Contra ditches the Rapid Bullets upgrade, an unexpected, yet effective decision that greatly improves the game. The length of the stages was also addressed here, as they're gonna take you more time as you run, climb and even take a dip into a lake to make progress and fight more enemies than before. There's even sub-bosses like the Tank on Stage 1 or the flying skeletal ship in stage 4. This game throws you more bosses to make Super Contra an "Action Packed" game so we're almost there.
Vertical scrolling levels.
Some fans love'em, others hate'em.
While Contra innovated the concept of Run N' Gun with the 3D Maze Base segments, Super Contra goes for a more simpler approach and replaces them with vertical "overhead" levels which also replace the vertical jumping levels such as the Waterfall from the original Contra. Some fans liked the overhead levels, others hate them because they consider them boring and a disappointing change from the base levels, but in the Arcade version this new format adds an unique weapon...
The final Shell-Shock
They didn't saw that one coming.
...Ready for an explosive burst of action? The overhead stages add a new deadly special weapon: The Hyper Shell. A single bullet capable of destroying anything on the screen, and almost taking down the second stage boss. Unfortunately, you can only carry one of them, so you've better keep it for the boss, it really helps against it.
Before Batman Forever on SNES there was Super Contra's Foreground Trickery.
While the features are interesting and some will prefer Contra's classic 3D tunnels, there's still problems unsolved. The Contra/Jail Break Aim-lag is still present and if it was already a problem on Contra, its even worse here, especially on the last two stages, as the enemies are faster and more aggressive than before. If you lose your weapon or have any other than the Machine Gun when you face the Stage 1 sub-boss it will ran over you (Good Luck to all the "Pea Shooter Only" maniacs). Stage 3 has the foreground blocking your visibility making you prone to die from an enemy or a bullet hidden by the trees, and don't get me started with the alien mouths on the final stage, those appear in a very random pattern making them unpredictable and 90% of the times they will kill you, losing your weapon and Hyper Shell. Not to mention it is a fucking obstacle course with tough-as-nails difficulty once you've lost your weapons, if you make it through the alien mouths, the ball throwing walls are one of the worst obstacles, making you lose time going defensive by tapping the fire button like crazy. But the nail that seals the Red Falcon coffin is the continue restrictions. Like in the Arcade version of Contra, you are allowed to continue thrice before being kicked back to the beginning. While three continues are more than enough to complete the American version of the game, in the Japanese version is stingy since the Japanese version loops until you ran out of continues while the American version ends at the final stage.
Killing Satan.
Once you've survived the troublesome final corridor, and defeated Suspicious Face, you'll be facing the real final boss and the monster controlling Red Falcon and the GX Army: The Emperor Demon Gava. This is the moment of truth where you'll be blowing his head off apart with bullets and Hyper Shells. Compared with the stage hazards of the game, Gava is an easy-to-normal boss, you can reduce the speed of its tentacle-arms by destroying the membranes on each side of its head, easing things further. This is vital if you don't have a weapon and you're stucked with the "pea shooter". Killing Gava will bring an end to the game, but surprisingly, an alien hatchling will emerge and escape and there's nothing you can do to stop it. With Gava's offspring running away to assemble a new Red Falcon in the future, we already know where all of this leads to; the Super Nintendo masterpiece Contra III The Alien Wars.
Despite the changes in gameplay, looks like Super Contra had fewer homeports if its compared with the original Contra. Starting off with the MS-DOS by Distinctive Software Inc. (Now Electronic Arts Vancouver, formerly EA Burnaby and EA Canada) which was renamed Super C and the package hinted the "C" was for "Commandos" instead of Contra. Silly excuse to say "Avoid any reference to the Iran-Contra Scandal" which I've mentioned on the Arcade Archives: Contra review. This port of Super Contra is a horrible port of the game due to sluggish controls (even worse than the arcade), bad hit detection (bullets can kill you before they can even touch you) and repulsive graphics. That might explain why they give you a lot of lives in the game. Seems like DOS conversions of arcade games were absolutely terrible. DSI renamed itself as Unlimted Software Inc. and ported Super Contra on the Amiga as Super C. Graphically looks better than the DOS version and carries the voice samples of the Arcade intro, but the Amiga's voice samples sound horrendous, and the gameplay is far worse. Add to the sluggish controls and poor hit detection a fucked up jump procedure. Imagine you have to stop shooting if you want to jump. That will put you in a vulnerable position, as a result we had an even more unplayable port of the game in home computers.
Super C(hallenging)
Super C(lassic)
Super C(ontra)
Need more reasons to own an NES?
But the best port of Super Contra was definitely on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Super C not only followed the lessons learned on the NES port of Contra, it also enhanced the game further. Remember how useless the Fireball was?, Here it was changed into the Fire Gun, a weapon that combined the fireball with the explosivity of the Bomb from the arcade. The Fire Gun shoots a fireball that explodes in four small balls in an "X" trajectory, but if you hold the button for a few seconds and then release it, it will shoot a ball that explodes into 8 small bombs, despite having a bad firing rate of 2 shots on screen, it was a powerful weapon against bosses. Despite sacrifying the powering up of the Arcade version, it reinstated the Barrier item and the Rapid Shot which were removed there and made the Laser firing more identical to the Contra counterpart. The stages once again got redesigned and extended, and they added more new levels to the game, while keeping the sense of challenge and difficulty to defy both newcomers and veterans alike just like before; "Tough but Fair", proving (once again) the NES could do a greater job than the Arcade counterparts.
The Japanese version was released as Super Contra while on Europe it was known as Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces where once again Bill, Lance and the former GX Army were turned into robots. For some reason, Konami ported the Famicom version to Chinese Java Mobile phones as Contra II. The only difference is that the game only supports MIDI sound, now you have autofire and the number of enemies was slightly reduced. Super Contra was released on the XBOX360 as an individual Live Arcade release and as part of Konami Classics Vol.1 alongside Frogger and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The XBOX port of Super Contra featured classic and "Enhanced" graphics and the achievement support. To be honest, the Enhanced graphics are horrible, as if someone threw the "Blur" filter on Photoshop and added distorted effects when an enemy explodes making them look more like if the game was censored, you can call this "Super C: 4Kids Mode" if you want. As a result this is an example of an completely unnecessary and questionable enhancement.
The latest release of Super Contra and Super C was on XBOX One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch as part of Contra Anniversary Collection by Konami and M2 (Darius Cozmic Collection, Castlevania Anniversary Collection). While the NES/Famicom port emulation was OK, we can't say the same for the Arcade version. The game's screen resolution was inferior and the adjustments were simplified as if it was a console port, and the voice samples from the arcade were missing, something hard to believe since we're talking Konami emulating its own game. ¿How is it possible that Konami itself could not emulate Super Contra perfectly? Also, it ditches the Probotector II version just like it did with both NES and Gameboy Probotector games as well. It felt like it took forever, but 8 years after Contra's release on Arcade Archives, Hamster and Konami brings Super Contra to the lineup (blame Hamster's favoritism towards Namco for that) and believe it or not, the emulation is much better than the one from Contra Anniversary Collection by restoring the missing voice clips from the intro, improved the display options and implemented arcade-like adjustments, making this the definitive home port of the game.
Visceral combat in the heart of the alien beast.
Graphically, it adds much more colors to the game, but the choices are quite dark and odd, especially on the first level, but where it really shines is on the visual effects as the lighting on the weapons like the Spread or the Laser shots as they blink in colors giving an energy look and feel, even the default rifle has a glowing light. Most games have the bosses blinking in red when they're about to die, but in this game is more like pulsing like if they're about to have a seizure before blowing up and the explosion effects were vastly improved. ¿Remember how Gordea died in an "L" made of three small explosions?, Here we have a slamfest of screen sized blasts that add more punch to the action. Yeah, Contra wants you to be blown from the arcade and Super Contra went "Super" on that aspect.
The sound department is also improved not just in the action flick soundtrack, but in the voice samples. Yeah, this game has voice samples. "What is this place?", "Keep your eyes peeled", "Please continue" and the alien hissing sounds, things which were missing in the Contra Anniversary Collection release.
SUPER CURIOSITIES: THE TRIVIA STRIKES BACK
TRIVIATECTOR II: RETURN OF THE EVIL FUN FACTS
He is not here to make friends.
He and his homies are here to cause trouble and worse: Human Extinction.
- Second entry on the Contra series.
- First Contra game to feature voice samples.
- It is also the first Contra arcade game released on Europe without the Gryzor or Probotector name.
- The taglines of the European Arcade flyer "Destiny waits in the Jungle" and "He's not human. He's not alien. He's the predator!!" are a reference to the quote "There's something out there waiting for us, and it ain't no man" from the 1987 film Predator.
- The NES Super C was the first Contra title to feature artwork by Tom DuBois.
- The stage 3 theme was remixed for the PlayStation 2 title Neo Contra.
- It is possible that Gava's appearance was influenced by Asmodeus, the final boss of Battlantis.
- Konami/Ultra advertisement "If the world ends tomorrow it's all your fault" mentions the GX army possession in a fake newspaper header saying "ALIENS MASTER MILITARY MINDS".
- The package blurb of Super C says that Red Falcon possessed the US Army, while the Probotector II one mentions the GX Army.
- It also mentions the Mega Shells (Hyper Shells) which are absent on the NES game.
- The Hyper Shell evolved into the Helios Bomb in Contra III: The Alien Wars, the grenades on C: The Contra Adventure and the Overload in Contra: Operation Galuga.
- The premise of the GX Army possessed by Gava was repurposed on Contra: Operation Galuga as the plotline of Stage 5 "Ice Train". Stanley Ironside implies this when he says "You zombie bastards ain't my men... The GX Army is gone!" confirming Varanis has taken over the GX army along with Red Falcon.
- Whatever you do, don't confuse Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces with the Gameboy title Probotector 2 which was the European version of Konami/Factor 5's Contra: The Alien Wars.
- Being able to power up your weapon was repurposed on Spidersaurs and Contra: Operation Galuga.
- The Arcade Archives release completes the "Arcade half" of Contra Anniversary Collection.
- Hamster's Facebook account wrongly translated the japanese name Super Contra: Alien no Gyakushu (The Alien Strikes Back) into "Super Tamashitou Alien's Tear", making it a short lived meme.
It's Contra Party Time!
Bring the sodas and junk food!
Super Contra improved the overall gameplay in some aspects on its path to be a memorable Run N' Gun but there was problems left unsolved that makes players hesitate on giving it a try.
If you are a hardcore Contra fan, you'll be giving this one a try, but with the aim-lag, screen trickery on stage 3, those unfair moments in the final level and the continue restriction from the previous game, you'd be better off with the NES Super C which made a much better job as a Contra sequel.
If you like harsh difficulty, then this game is for you.
Nope, Shells stack across levels, and even the JP's loop. You can carry up to a whopping four! I highly recommend saving them for the final stage's pre-Gyaba gauntlet, the game's deadliest stretch. (whether that's st5 in US, or st2-5 in JP).
